A 7-Eleven has been approved to replace the vacant Stangelini’s Italian Deli
& Hilltop Market in San Mateo by city staff but Deputy Mayor David Lim has
requested a series of public hearings to determine whether the land should be
kept as residential, as it is currently zoned.

The deli was vacant for so long, nearly two years, that the property on North
San Mateo Drive is now zoned for multi-family residences. A 7-Eleven or any
other retail establishment proposed for the site is considered a non-conforming
use since the land is zoned residential.

City staff approved 7-Eleven’s zoning application Aug. 30 after developer,
Portfolio Development Partners, held a community outreach meeting at the Martin
Luther King Jr. Center in February.

Portfolio was granted a zoning code amendment, since the building is now
considered non-conforming, to re-establish a grocery store use on the site.

Lim requested a hearing regarding the possible termination and removal of the
non-conforming use at 501 N. San Mateo Drive, near the Burlingame border, after
hearing from neighbors near the site who complained about the potential for
increased crime, traffic and the oversaturation of convenience stores in the
area.

Lim suspects neighborhood residents would be more favorable to a use similar
to Stangelini’s rather than a 7-Eleven, which stays open 24 hours a day and
sells alcohol and cigarettes.

An official with Portfolio would not comment to the Daily Journal yesterday
on the issue.

The initial plan was to restore the property as a grocery store but Josh
Amoroso with Portfolio previously told the Daily Journal that housing was also a
possibility for the site.

Lim and other councilmembers have received numerous emails from neighbors
near the site in the past week saying they had concerns about a 7-Eleven popping
up in the area.

The Planning Commission is scheduled to hold a public hearing in October on
the use of the property and the City Council is tentatively scheduled to hear
the matter at its Nov. 19 meeting.

If the council finds the 7-Eleven to be a non-conforming use for the site,
the developer will have a minimum of two years and maximum of up to five years
to maintain a non-conforming use on the site. After that, the use would revert
to residential.

Lim is seeking to have the hearings soon since the developer has not invested
any serious money in improvements to the property, Lim said.

Lane Kashiwahara and his wife attended the community meeting at the King
Center in February and left it with the impression that a “neighborhood market”
was proposed for the site.

“City employees assured us that there would be additional information and
notices sent out related to this project. As you know, we received no further
communication,” Kashiwahara wrote Lim in an email.

The Kashiwahara’s contend a 7-Eleven would “sacrifice the integrity of the
neighborhood and its charm.”

There are plenty of other markets in the area, they wrote, that already serve
alcohol and cigarettes.
Lim is seeking a review of the non-conforming use since the deli’s use was
authorized more than 20 years ago.

Now is the time to determine whether the non-conforming use is proper, so as
to minimize the impact on the property owners, Lim wrote City Manager Susan
Loftus when making his request for a public hearing.

“The surrounding community deserves a public hearing to weigh in on whether
the current non-conforming use should remain in the community,” Lim wrote to
Loftus.

Bill Silverfarb can be reached by email: silverfarb@smdailyjournal.com or by
phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 106.

2 comments:

Thanks for posting this... I hadn't read the Daily Journal the day this was published. We drive by that site several times a day. I have a secondary concern about that corner... not directly related to which business ends up on the property. People on San Mateo drive often don't stop for the stop sign there. If you are on Bellevue, you have to drive as if someone is going to run the stop sign. I don't know who to go to about this. I'm not sure if putting a 7-11 in there would make a difference to the traffic at that corner... I suppose it probably would.

Thanks David for posting this. I live about halfway between the Stangelini site and the King Center and never heard anything about a community meeting in February. I'm glad we'll have an opportunity to provide some input in the near future. As you know, our neighborhood already has it's share of problems and having a 24 hour convenience store is probably the last thing we need. The 7-11 store that is less than a half mile south on E. Third Ave in San Mateo is plagued by loitering and litter-we have enough of both in North Central and don't need a 27/7 magnet for more of the same. This kind of proposed development is completely out of character for the neighborhood and it is my hope that the City Council will find the non-conforming use inappropriate for the site.

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